Kärt

I don’t know what’s going on. The upgrade went well yesterday, or so it seemed, but now I’ve noticed some really weird things – like my whole blogroll over there (->) is a mess. And I don’t mean out of the order I normally have it in, which it is. I mean, there are links to pages that don’t even exist anymore! I’ve just updated a few that I had some time to handle right now, but I’ll need to go through those with the proverbial fine-tooth comb at some point. How that happened, I can’t imagine. Adding a new theme should not dredge up long-changed/deleted links.

Not only that, but twice now I’ve had to re-upload images and/or the theme’s stylesheet, both of which I made changes to in order to reflect the look you currently see. I’m more than a little concerned with this. What exactly is going on in the backend of this site to allow things that have been added to get written over with old content?

I know, I know, not exactly riveting reading, sorry. I’ll move on . . .

Sunday’s big adventure was a trip to Ikea, a giant blue building filled with funny furniture, which had Amanda practically shaking with excitement, I kid not. This was an event on the level of our trip to San Diego, somehow. So momentous was this that she couldn’t even fall asleep during her allotted afternoon nap. The entire ride down there . . . a very long ride since we live on the complete opposite side of the county from the place . . . was filled with “Mommy!” and some tidbit of information that she had just discovered or felt needed to be reiterated. This was exactly how the 5 hours of the drive to San Diego went, too.

Oh, and the reason for this trip? Looking for A) new storage for the flood of toys that Amanda has gotten, and B) a DVD rack of some kind for, obviously, our DVDs, which, at the moment, are stored, pathetically, on a large plastic storage shelf that belongs in a garage. They need a real, fitting home, not something that should be holding yard equipment and bug spray. The real problem here is that we have WAY more DVDs than either of us thought. I should say I because most of these are music-DVDs, not movies or TVs – but that contingent has been growing, too. But it feels better to spread the blame. Anyway, I guestimated that we have somewhere around 150, maybe more, which blows my mind considering we never really watch these things.

While checking out our DVD situation, I got realistic with a handful and threw them up on Amazon and Half.com. I came home and found that I’d sold 4 of 6 that I had to offer. Not bad – I didn’t lose much money on these, either. The way I look at is like this: there’s an opportunity cost, like going to see a movie in a theater. Figure even at its cheapest a movie is going to cost around $10 in its regular run, and that’s being extremely generous. So one viewing of a DVD is equivalent of seeing a movie one time in a theater, right? And if you watch it again, well, you can do the math – the value gets better and better. So selling something on Amazon for 2/3 what I bought it for is technically making money back, in a way, and, in the case of two of these, I sold them for 9/10 what I paid for them originally! I can’t complain.

But back to Ikea. Probably the best part of Ikea is their product names. I really get a kick out of being able to call something a “Flärke” in public without it sounding like I’m swearing at somebody. The second best part is their shopping cart, which has four turnable wheels. Should I call it a “Kärt”? I think I probably should. Anyway, since all four wheels turn, it makes for some interesting experiences trying to get it to go around corners. You point it the way you want it to go, but the wheels just keep going the way they had originally been going. So even an empty Kärt will require the same exertion to turn as a heavily burdened one. But we made the most of it, taking advantage of the unique four-wheel steering capabilities – making sure the parking lot aisle was clear, I would give the handle a good push to one side and let go, allowing Amanda to have an impromptu teacup-like spin in the Kärt.

This, of course, prompted many “Spin, daddy, spin!” calls from her, and I provided a few more safe spins on the way out of the store . . . empty-handed, empty-Kärted. We found nothing that suited our needs in particular. Not that Ikea doesn’t have tons of cool, clever, space-saving ideas. That’s the problem. They have too many. I’m not a good planner. I am not organized. I am not a decorator, either. And this store is designed for those types of people. People who can walk in and grab four Glüphas and two Kläknas and know that together they’ll make a great wall-mounted storage system that is both stylish and simple. I walk in there and I’m simply overwhelmed. Too many options. They’re everywhere. Boxes and shelves and bins and drawers and things to clips things together and then there’s all the funny names that sound like bodily functions, not to mention that they keep pushing the Swedish meatballs they sell in their little restaurant at every turn – the ones that I can’t help but hear in my head as “Svay-dush maytballs.” For someone like me, Ikea starts out promising, becomes overwhelming, and ultimately winds up simply unintentionally comic. Which, to be honest, is really not a bad way for things to turn out.

And then we went for pizza at the best pizza place pretty much ever, the one we only get to about every two years now that we live where we live and now that we have Amanda to consider – Vito’s Pizza. It was basically a decision that boiled down to this: “We’re already this far, why not go a bit farther?” And so we did – instead of south, we headed east, and got this simply awesome pizza.

Once in a while it’s worth it to make a 120 mile round-trip drive to walk around a big blue building and spend absolutely nothing and then go eat pizza. I’m not sure why, but it just is.

Yes, I actually am crazy

Look! A brand new design for the site after more than two years with the old one. I grabbed a theme from N Design that I’ve been admiring over at Marc’s site, made some modifications to the visuals, created my own logo, and set it free just a bit ago. There may be other slight changes as I get settled with it, who knows?

This is all in preparation for a big challenge – you remember NaBloPoMo, right? You know, post every day in November? I guess I handled that with ease because I am finding it impossible to resist Blog365 – the name kind of says it all. A post every single day of the year beginning January 1. Am I up for it? I don’t know, but we’re going to find out. With that comes the realization, however, that I’m spreading myself too thin by running two sites. Many can do it, but not me – I’m not focused enough to do this if I’m to dedicate myself to something this ambitious. So as of January 1, or maybe even now, LookoutForHope is going on hiatus. What was posted there – talk about music, TV, movies, books, etc. – will be coming back here again. I’m going to need all the help I can get to keep up the pace, and trying to keep two sites busy is just too much for little ol’ me. If you hated my music posts, well, you’ll just have to deal. I’ll try and keep it interesting for everybody. Seriously.

As for here, well, everything will be pretty much as it has been – completely unfocused and otherwise a mess, which is pretty much a reflection of how I feel on a daily basis. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you. And me, I guess. I’m still out on that one.

Happy war (Xmas is over)

While not entirely staying away from the computer, I have resisted the temptation to sit here and write obsessively long posts like I normally would given the freedom of all this time off. It’s harder than you think.

Christmas was, in a word, a blast. This was easily the most fun Christmas ever. Watching Amanda tear through her gifts was quite an experience – hilarious, actually. She really “got” Christmas this year. She would rip the wrapping paper to shreds to get at what’s inside, give it a look, then move on with “What’s next?” And she got to say that a lot because she got a lot of stuff.

There was, however, a sad moment that morning when she opened her stocking and found a tube of M&Ms that I got for her that had a small train toy on top. She thought this was the train that she had asked Santa for . . . and she was perfectly satisfied with that. It was humbling how simple our children’s desires are and how extravagant our visions of what we imagine those desires are.

Regardless, after all the gifts were opened, I disappeared and came back dressed in the same Santa suit that my dad had dressed in for years when I was a kid (and, truthfully, well into my adulthood, much to my chagrin.) The ecstatic, gleeful greeting I expected Santa, bringer of gifts, would receive from Amanda, the one who pointed him out everywhere with an exclamation for the past month, did not come. She instead stood with terror in her eyes, then threw herself on the floor and buried her face in her hands. When Alissa coaxed her to stand again, she quickly turned around and faced the opposite direction so she couldn’t see Santa.

A while back Alissa and I had decided that it was the time to make a clean break with Amanda’s beloved pacifier. And the doctor had said so, too – two years old is the time that pacifiers need to stop being used. How to do that when your child depends on them to sleep? For months we couldn’t think of an easy way to transition over to non-pacifier sleep . . . until Christmas. Santa and the promise of a special toy presented a perfect opportunity – Amanda could give Santa her pacifier and he would give her a special toy. And so every couple of nights we reminded Amanda of this, asking her what was going to happen at Christmastime, and she would reply with something along the lines of “I give Santa pacifier” and, when prodded, she would say that Santa was going to give her a train. And she was excited to see Santa.

When Santa arrived Christmas morning, Alissa had to beg Amanda to approach me (as him.) She had apparently not realized Santa would be here in our house with her. When she finally did approach, it was a run, and she sprinted to me, pacifier out, and threw it at Santa, and returned to her mommy 20 feet away just as quickly. Santa then went away and her daddy returned, who was “surprised” to hear that Santa had visited.

And with that, things returned to normal. Convinced that Santa was gone, she came out into the front room, where all her toys are now, and found a giant package.

Tearing it open, she uncovered the big train set that we had bought ages ago and that I spent the last few nights putting together. And, thankfully, she loves it – she’s spent the majority of her time around it playing with trains and cars and planes. Her other toys get plenty of attention, but this one truly is the center right now, as it should be.

Asked later what she thought of Santa, she said, “Santa is scary.” We’ll have to wait and see what she thinks about Santa visiting next year. When asked right now if she wants Santa to come back, her response is a resounding “No.”

And, believe it or not, she gave up the pacifier easily. We weren’t sure if she got that giving the thing to Santa was a permanent move or not – and really we believe she did not get that – but that evening, exhausted from a long day of playing and opening with no nap other than a short one on the way home that night, she simply asked about it a couple times, and we both told her that Santa had it and she had her new train set in exchange. She got it, laid down, and tried to go to sleep, babbling to herself quietly about the book she took to bed.

When she called out a bit later, I went in and she said with a tearful voice, “Daddy, I really need my pacifier,” I had to level with her – Santa took it to a Lithuanian orphan named Frankie, a little baby who needed it, and she was a little girl now. I can’t call her a big girl – I did this the other day and she got upset: “I’m a little girl!” There are many distinctions in age when you’re a child that we forget about as adults, apparently.

Silence soon issued from her room, sleep coming for the first time without her pacifier for the majority of her life – what seemed like a Christmas miracle to us. And, with that, Christmas was over.

Exchange rates

While eating lunch at Whataburger after a short day at work, I witnessed a little parade of five or six golf carts through the window across the restaurant. It was, in a word I don’t typically use, “cute.” The moment I saw them in their little procession, all five in a neat little train, spaced a cart-length or so apart and occupied by one person each, my brain cued up that marching band parade song I’m sure we all have hard-wired into our brain from countless appearances in TV shows. I’m sure someone in the restaurant wondered what I was smiling at. Little did they know I was suppressing a laugh.

Again I was reading David Sedaris at the shot lab today. I haven’t had much of a chance to read the past couple weeks, for whatever reason, so this was the first time since my last time a couple weeks ago – I had to skip out last week because of bad timing, unfortunately. This time turned out to be good timing, at least in terms of reading, as I got to Sedaris’ story “6 to 8 Black Men” (read or listen,) his piece about how Christmas Critmuh, and especially Santa, is experienced in the Netherlands. It’s hilarious, and reading it in public is not a good idea for even the most stoic of readers – of which I typically am. I had a hard time stifling my laughter at many points. Maybe it was my good mood today or something, I don’t know, but his take on their, frankly, bizarre version of good ol’ St. Nick is pretty hard not to laugh at.

Interesting side story regarding Sedaris. I had his Live at Carnegie Hall CD a few years ago. I lent it to a coworker who shared a similarly fond interest in him and promptly forgot about it. Months went by and it continued to be forgotten, and then he decided it was time to move on, quit, and moved out of state to live nearer his boyfriend. At some point after this, the CD was remembered/rediscovered, and he promised he would make it up to me. Come the next visit, he brings not the CD but a replica monkey skull as, I suppose, repayment for the disc. I lend out a CD and get a replica monkey skull in return. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool monkey skull. I’m just saying, it’s an odd exchange rate.

Critmuh Friday

Never doubt the ability for idiots to collide in even the lightest of work-day traffic, and to do so in the most spectacular manner. It should have been a quick drive to work, relatively speaking – many people have today off, either going out of town or just taking the day off for an extra long weekend. And, for the first 25 miles or so of my drive, that was plainly obvious. I drove at nearly the actual speed limit the entire time, an extreme rarity, but oh, those last 5 or so miles were painful. Basically, it took me as long to go that first 25 miles as it did that final 5 because a few someones weren’t paying any damned attention and drove into each other.

What has happened to cat litter? We’ve been using Tidy Cats pretty much since we got Bentley and Oscar – 8 years ago – and suddenly they changed it from little rocks to these round balls. Big deal, right? Well, they changed something else too because it no longer clumps at all, and has resulted in some of the biggest messes when I’ve cleaned out the litter box. We’ve tried a few different kinds but found that there was a lot of dust associated with them, so we went back to Tidy Cats hoping that maybe there was a problem with the early stuff. Nope, this stuff just sucks. And if you have any suggestions, please don’t suggest the “natural” kind. We tried some stuff made out of wheat that looked promising. That was nasty.

Christmas . . . I’m sorry, Critmuh begins today, basically. I don’t care that it’s in four days. It starts today in about 4 hours. I leave work after a short day and that’s it, I’m done. I’m off until January 2, people. Let me restate that for dramatic effect: I’m off until January 2. That’s 11 full days off, only four of which will actually be vacation days. I can’t argue with the math that equates to that bargain.

Will everyone be disappointed Critmuh morning when they find out I didn’t actually buy any presents but instead made rough representations of things they wanted out of things I found in parking lots?

The list has been checked, twice even

In case anyone’s curious, I have three long lists of Christmas wants/needs up at the other place.

No coal – book suggestions for Santa

What am I hoping Creepy Claus has in his bag this year? He’s going to need a big bag ‘cuz I got a big list . . .

Books

Daniel J. Levitin – This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of Human Obsession: Why does music, or anything non-essential, really, stick with us and make us happy? Author/researcher Levitin was on a local morning show hawking his book a few months back and I found his thoughts fascinating about the physiological reasons why, say, some of us are driven to own thousands of CDs and spend most of their days thinking about music . . . GOT

Dave Eggers – What is the What: I know a lot of people don’t like Eggers’ loose, free style, but I was instantly hooked by his Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and to a slightly lesser extent, You Shall Know Our Velocity. This one, however, is a little different. Eggers uses the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee from Sudan who comes to the US, as the basis for a fictional memoir. Sounds a bit odd, doesn’t it? Read some of the sample provided by Amazon – it had me hooked and I found myself very frustrated when the 5 page excerpt ended. GOT

John Elder Robison – Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s: The brother of writer Augusten Burroughs proves that the gift is in the genes in his family with this story about dealing with this disorder, which is similar to, but not as crippling as autism. As Amazon seems reluctant to give a sample, check out his site for something to read and you’ll probably see why I wanted to read this, too. It’s not solely about his disorder, it’s about how people cope and live normal lives, and that’s something that always fascinates me. GOT

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner – Freakonomics: When a coworker suggested this one, I scoffed. A book about statistics? Give me a break. And then I took a look out of curiosity and was riveted. Sure it’s full of statistics, but it’s statistics in relation to other, seemingly unrelated statistics, the writers using both to draw out conclusions about the state of society today and why people do the things they do. Not only that, but it is written with humor and elegance not normally associated with this topic. Seriously, give it a look and I bet you’ll be more fascinated than you thought you would be. GOT

David Sedaris – Box Set: I’ve been reading Sedaris for a few years now and he’s grown to be one of my favorites. He straddles that line between reality and uncomfortably realistic. He writes from his own experiences, maybe not completely 100% true stories but more pieces crafted to represent the Truth of the experience. In this post James Frey world, it appears a distinction must be made, regardless of how much people enjoyed reading what the author wrote, and Sedaris makes no attempt to conceal the fact that he writes exaggerations of his real life. Really, does it matter? Why? You liked reading it, it meant something to you, what damned difference does it make if the guy lived it exactly as he wrote it or not? But I digress. GOT

Alissa and I saw David Sedaris when he stopped in Scottsdale on his book reading tour a few years ago, and it’s an event that has stayed with me since then. While I loved his writing before then, what happened since then is that the writing took on a third dimension, and I find it almost impossible not to imagine his distinctive voice reading the words out of his books directly to me in my head, something I have a feeling he might find disturbing. And here, in this box, is a bunch of CDs of recordings of his readings so I always have the ability to do just that. I’ll always prefer actually reading a book over listening to one, but Sedaris’ readings have a special charm that I’ve never experienced before.

Santa, have at it. There’s something like 38 choices for you to choose from. I’m not going to fall for that “sit on my lap” routine, but I will leave cookies out for you. Dig in. Just be sure and leave some good stuff behind. Oh, and clean up after those reindeer. By the time I find their shit on the roof it’s turned to little smelly rocks.

No coal – Santa’s music suggestions

What am I hoping Creepy Claus has in his bag this year? He’s going to need a big bag ‘cuz I got a big list . . .

Music – Now that the DVDs are out of the way, let’s move on to the realm of sound:

Michael Manring & David Cullen – Equilibre: Bassist Manring is easily one of my favorite bassists. He takes the instrument far beyond simply being a rhythmic instrument, making it sing in high registers that most people may not recognize as bass. Here he pairs up with an acoustic guitarist to create, as usual, intriging and inventive textures. GOT

Brian Bromberg – Metal: Another bassist doing unusual things on the instrument. I’ve heard this dude in other settings and really didn’t care for him, but this album has him doing something so outside of his norm that it’s really cool stuff. Instead of the smooth jazz he’s typically known for (blech) he’s doing some weird rock-tinged fusion, and it’s good.

The Bad Plus – Prog: I put off buying this over and over again and now it’s Christmas, so why not just add it onto the list? I really enjoyed their first album, but found that they seemed to get a little unfocused on the last two for some reason, and this one sounds a little more back on track, with some unusual material choices like Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” Burt Bacharach’s “This Guy’s In Love With You,” and Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.” You know I have to hear it just for the last one alone. GOT

Tord Gustavsen Trio – Changing Places & The Ground: Son of a bitch. I knew it would happen. I kept putting off buying this group’s latest, Being There, for one reason or another, and then “Christmas list time” came. I swore I put this on my list, and so I never bought it. It turns out I didn’t – I left it off because I was just certain I was going to have to buy Being There well before Christmas. Well, it’s Christmas now and I don’t have it.

You can pretty much hear the cold of the northern European regions these guys come from in this music, but it’s not that alienating, bitter cold – it’s the kind of stuff that makes snow and ice look beautiful and serene instead of painfully, frightfully cold. Label ECM is good at that, but some artists on that label are better at it than others . . .

Arild Andersen with Vassilis Tsabropoulos and John Marshall – The Triangle: I can’t hardly pronounce two of these three dudes’ names, and spoken together it sounds like I’m eating cheese and talking at the same time, but like that Tord guy above, it’s good, quiet jazz in a particular mood that seems to suit my needs lately.

Oregon – 1000 Kilometers: One of my final downloads from Emusic before I gave up in favor of actual CDs for good was two “discs” by Oregon, a band I knew only by name, and slightly by reputation as a bit of a lite-jazz outfit. Turns out that classification was partially wrong – they’re more a chamber-jazz group that went astray in the 80s, only to come back to their roots in the later 90s, releasing this album to pretty much universal acclaim this year.

Eno-related – Discreet Music GOT, Cluster & Eno and After The Heat: I know, I know – I’m a pretty decent sized Eno fan and I don’t own Discreet Music? I’m looking to correct that soon. I’m also including two discs from the dudes in Cluster that he worked with with that are considered “ambient classics,” if such a term exists. I’ve been wanting these a long, long time, but I can wait even longer – it’s just part of being a fan of ambient music.

Erik Friedlander – Block Ice And Propane: You know he has to be a fantastic cellist when both rock and jazz fans are interested in his solo works. Cellists just don’t tend to draw big fan bases who get excited about their new works, but when they’re as daring and unusual as Friedlander is, it is warranted.

Rob Crow – Living Well: While I’m not quite sure that Crow’s band Pinback’s latest album quite makes it onto my best-o-07 list, I did find that what I heard from his solo album piqued my interest quite a bit. I honestly can’t tell you much more than that. GOT

Larry Coryell – Spaces Revisited: I’m not at all familiar with jazz guitarist Coryell. I only knew of him by reputation, and strangely Spaces, what little of it could be made out in clips, didn’t do much for me but this sounded intriguing as hell. Tight band – hard, driving guitar work with the right twists and turns that made me go “whoa” when I first heard it. GOT

Dave Liebman – Back On The Corner: Saxophonist Liebman revisits territory covered by his former employer, Miles Davis, taking a very different approach. In fact, had there been no mention of On the Corner or Miles, I might not have picked up on the connection (besides knowing Liebman’s involvement). GOT

Joe Zawinul – Brown Street: Zawinul passed away this year leaving behind quite a musical legacy – tenures with Cannonball Adderly, Miles Davis, and, of course, Weather Report – as well as a solo career that might not have gotten quite as much notice as it deserved. It appears he went out on top, as this album started getting rave reviews when it came out, months before his death, and from what I’ve heard they are well deserved. Backed by the WDR Big Band, Zawinul runs through a good selection of his entire career with his own very strong band, and it’s a great way to summarize his career.

Next up, a small selection of books . . .

No coal – DVDs Santa should bring me

What am I hoping Creepy Claus has in his bag this year? He’s going to need a big bag ‘cuz I got a big list . . .

DVDs

It’s almost all about DVDs, especially TV-on-DVD, this year, a real rarity for me.

2001: A Space Odyssey (Special Edition) – Absolute must-have after receiving the “special edition” treatment this year. Quite possibly my favorite movie of all time, and the fact that this version has extras makes it even better. GOT

The Shining (Special Edition) – Besides Misery, this is probably the best Stephen King film adaptation ever, and also equally the best book. It doesn’t follow said book so closely toward the end, and maybe you could argue with the choice of the already maniacal Jack Nicholson in the role of a man who is supposed to gradually go insane, but with a movie this great, those are minor gripes. GOT

A Clockwork Orange (Special Edition) – With this recent “special editionizing” I find it hard to resist yet another Kubrick classic. GOT

In fact, when the box came out a couple months back, it made just as much sense to buy that instead and get 3 extra films (Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, and the Kubrick documentary, A Life In Pictures) for just a few dollars more on Amazon than buying the above three separately. (I also have to admit that am slightly embarassed to say I’ve never actually seen Full Metal Jacket. Eyes Wide Shut was actually not a bad film at all, just misunderstood. And it also had Nicole Kidman at the peak of her icy hotness.)

Northern Exposure (Complete Series) – This is one of those shows that I fell in love with back when it aired in the early 90s, and I’ve been eying the individual season sets for a couple years now (and I’ll ignore the whole “original music has been replaced issue” – it’s just the way things are going to be with some series. Life goes on.) Now that the whole series is in one place, it makes a lot more sense to just buy them all together, even though you do get that dreary final season where Rob Morrow decided he was a really hot actor right on the verge of a huge film career and abandoned the show mid-season. Boy did he learn.

Dr. Katz Professional Therapist – I never watched this while it was on, but caught a few episodes in repeats and loved what I saw. I saw that seasons 1 and 2 had come out on DVD and then . . . nothing else. Now they’ve issued the whole series together rather than the rest as individual sets, which is understandably pissing off those who bought the first two seasons. And, frankly, it makes it a bit hard for those of us who would rather just buy a set at a time to get into. We aren’t given the choice, and it’s either boycott or give in. I give in, unless Santa boycotts for me, which is always a very real possibility given the price.

30 Rock (Season 1) – Maybe I was still smarting from losing Arrested Development, I don’t know. I skipped out on this show figuring it wasn’t going to make it – why get attached knowing yet another show was going to be dumped? Well, it made it, and I watched a few episodes here and there from last season and fell in love this season. Now I need to see all of last season. GOT

Home Movies (Seasons 2, 3, and 4) – One of my favorite Adult Swim offerings, I somehow only have season 1 on DVD. Kind of a “cartoon about nothing,” just three kids who like to make their own movies, talking about anything and everything, done in such a casual manner that it sounds like they don’t even script the show (maybe they don’t.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re86sOLHIJE&rel=1″>

Flight of the Conchords – We caught an episode of this on HBO in our hotel room in San Diego a few months ago. That was enough to convince me that I needed to see this show in its entirety. Very low-key comedy focusing on the music of a song-writing duo that just can’t seem to get anywhere. GOT

Extras (Season 2) – I’ve seen about two minutes of this show, to be honest. It’s Ricky Gervais, the mastermind of the original BBC version of The Office, so season 1 of this was on my list last year (and I got it.) Unfortunately, I still have yet to actually watch it yet, but that’s not stopping me from putting season 2 on my list. GOT

The Office (Season 3) – I want The Office sets almost as much for the outtakes and extras as for the show itself, regardless of the fact that it’s a can’t-miss show every week.

The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition) – Another “favorite of all time,” and it’s hard to believe it’s 20 years old, this one comes with a bonus disc filled with bonus features, some of which were on last year’s edition (which warrants a mild boo – two editions in a year?!) One of the most consistently funny movies of all time. It never gets old.

Music DVDs

Not much explanation needed, right?

Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years – Videos and concert footage from throughout “the cute Beatle’s” entire solo career. It’s not as comprehensive as you might hope – the concert portion especially, but some of this stuff may never get a full release due to label apathy. GOT

Led Zeppelin – The Song Remains The Same – Remastered and all that, I’ve developed a bit of nostalgia for this goofy concert film with fantasy segments thrown in. The newly expanded live album is astounding, and is probably all I need, but it’s nice to have things like this for those time when you just want to experience it again. I won’t be at all crushed if it’s not under the tree.

The Beatles – Help! – Quaint and charmingly humorous, I saw most of this one night a while back but missed finding out how – or if – Ringo got that ring off his finger and escaped sacrifice at the hands of gypsies, or whatever they were. Strange premise. GOT

Queen – Rock Montreal + Live Aid – Kinda obvious, isn’t it? GOT

Queen – On Fire At The Bowl – Again, another concert DVD, like the above. GOT

Up next: music and after that books I think Santa wants me to have.

Comments (2)